You’ve been told that it is rude to have your cell phone at the dining table, whether you are dining with your family, or having a dinner date with your partner. The problem is, the society we live in is so super connected, that many of us have a hard time disconnecting for even an hour, let alone imagining a life sans our “connection.”

But gadgets aren’t all about divisiveness. For instance, we recently wrote about two apps that are great examples: Path and Pair, intimate social networks meant for families, lovers and friends. But these apps are meant for when you’re apart. What about when you’re together? Unless we are thinking Guitar Hero, that’s more complex. Perhaps an iPhone can be a good source of background music if you connect your Pandora to a sound system.

As we progress further into a technological era, there’s no sense in pointing to how gadgets take away from quality time with one another. It’s happening, and it’s here to stay. If anything, most of our tech innovations have led us to an easier an even more intimate life. Look how easy it is for us to connect with a friend across state via Facebook. Also, new applications have even allowed for new opportunities to connect –like GPS locating our beaux while he/she is traveling (stalk much?!).

In the most basic sense, people have taken a book to the beach for years; now they take their Kindle. No one thinks of anyone reading at the beach as weird or culturally prohibiting to vacation time, so what’s the difference between reading a book or reading from a Kindle?

So, whether too much technology is abnormal or not, we can all agree that technology has, in many ways, made our lives less stressful and complicated. So can we just keep the cellphone on the dinner table?